Biology Commons^™

The Circadian Fluctuation Of Melatonin In Stenostomum Virginianum, Ian D. Deas, Julian P. Smith Iii

The Winthrop McNair Research Bulletin

Much is known about melatonin and its role in the circadian regulation of vertebrate organisms. However, melatonin has not been studied extensively in more primitive bilaterians. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between melatonin and the circadian rhythm in the organism Stenostomum virginianum. Melatonin assay methods from previous research in the field were optimized for smaller tissue sampling of microscopic metazoans. The optimized assay methodology was then used to identify melatonin in Stenostomum virginianum using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Identification of photoreceptors was used to correlate the presence of melatonin to the circadian rhythm. …

Multimodal Imaging Trials With Zebrafish Specimens, Kendra Bufkin

The Winthrop McNair Research Bulletin

Biomedical imaging is an important technique that can be used for several applications such as cancer research and cardiology. A range of imaging technology, such as PET, SPECT, micro-CT and optical X-ray, is available for imaging. However, many research institutes use rats and mice for preclinical experiments. The purpose of this study was to determine if Zebrafish are compatible for use in pre-clinical imaging, and which modalities and probes work best. Different Zebrafish specimens were tested using five different modalities and four probes. In order to assess with two-dimensional modalities, both fluorescence and planar X-Ray were performed on the specimens. …

Plasticity In Leaf-Level Water Relations Of Tropical Rainforest Trees In Response To Experimental Drought, Oliver J. Binks, Patrick Meir, Lucy Rowland, Antonio Carlos Lola Da Costa, Steel Silva Vasconcelos, Alex Antonio Ribeiro De Oliveira, Leandro Ferreira, Bradley O. Christoffersen, Andrea Nardini, Maurizio Mencuccini

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Summary

• The tropics are predicted to become warmer and drier, and understanding the sensitivity of tree species to drought is important for characterizing the risk to forests of climate change. This study makes use of a long-term drought experiment in the Amazon rainforest to evaluate the role of leaf-level water relations, leaf anatomy and their plasticity in response to drought in six tree genera.
• The variables (osmotic potential at full turgor, turgor loss point, capacitance, elastic modulus, relative water content and saturated water content) were compared between seasons and between plots (control and through-fall exclusion) enabling a comparison between short- …

In Vitro And In Vivo Antioxidant Capacity Of Synthetic And Natural Polyphenolic Compounds Identified From Strawberry And Fruit Juices, Marvin Abountiolas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Strawberries can be considered a functional food because their consumption has been associated with several health benefits. They are important sources of bioactive compounds, such as vitamins and polyphenolic compounds, with recognized antioxidant capacity (AOC). However, strawberry overall quality and bioactive content are greatly affected by environmental conditions during pre- and post-harvest and, little is known about the stability of its bioactive compounds, specifically ascorbic acid (AA) and polyphenolics compounds. Furthermore, additional research that addresses the impact of polyphenolic compounds on in vitro and in vivo models is needed to understand the mechanisms behind their potential health benefits. Therefore, the …

Src1 Is A Protein Of The Inner Nuclear Membrane Interacting With The Dictyostelium Lamin Ne81, Petros Batsios, Xiang Ren, Otto Baumann, Denis A. Larochelle, Ralph Gräf

Biology

The nuclear envelope (NE) consists of the outer and inner nuclear membrane (INM), whereby the latter is bound to the nuclear lamina. Src1 is a Dictyostelium homologue of the helix-extension-helix family of proteins, which also includes the human lamin-binding protein MAN1. Both endogenous Src1 and GFP-Src1 are localized to the NE during the entire cell cycle. Immuno-electron microscopy and light microscopy after differential detergent treatment indicated that Src1 resides in the INM. FRAP experiments with GFP-Src1 cells suggested that at least a fraction of the protein could be stably engaged in forming the nuclear lamina together with the Dictyostelium lamin …

An Investigation Into B Cells In Peripheral Blood And Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissues In The Red Eared Slider Turtle, Trachemys Scripta, Sarah Marie Marrochello

Theses and Dissertations

As in endotherms, immunity in ectotherms is vital to survival and contributes to the overall fitness of an organism. For reptilians, there are a number of environmental factors, such as temperature, season, and pathogen prevalence, which are known to influence both innate and adaptive immunity. Of particular interest, is the effect of these factors on B cells, a component of adaptive immunity. Reptilian B cells are reported to secrete antibodies, much like their mammalian counterparts, and undergo phagocytosis. The work reported here primarily focused on understanding the effect of environmental temperature, incubation temperature, and nesting season on B cells in …

Evolution Of Kaic-Dependent Timekeepers: A Proto-Circadian Timing Mechanism Confers Adaptive Fitness In The Purple Bacterium Rhodopseudomonas Palustris, Peijun Ma, Tetsuya Mori, Chi Zhao, Teresa Thiel, Carl Johnson

Biology Department Faculty Works

Circadian (daily) rhythms are a fundamental and ubiquitous property of eukaryotic organisms. However, cyanobacteria are the only prokaryotic group for which bona fide circadian properties have been persuasively documented, even though homologs of the cyanobacterial kaiABC central clock genes are distributed widely among Eubacteria and Archaea. We report the purple non-sulfur bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris (that harbors homologs of kaiB and kaiC) only poorly sustains rhythmicity in constant conditions–a defining characteristic of circadian rhythms. Moreover, the biochemical characteristics of the Rhodopseudomonas homolog of the KaiC protein in vivo and in vitro are different from those of cyanobacterial KaiC. Nevertheless, R. palustris …

The Signature Of God In Medicine And Microbiology An Apologetic Argument For Declarative Design In The Discoveries Of Alexander Fleming, Alan L. Gillen, Michael Cargill

Faculty Publications and Presentations

In logic and reasoning, a signature indicates the presence of an author; likewise, the characteristics of staphylococci indicate the presence of a Creator. Staphylococci and its “kind” are common bacteria, particularly in colonized people.1 Staphylococcus aureus has a complex molecular mechanism of assembling its golden pigment, staphyloxanthin. The biosynthesis of staphyloxanthin is a stellar example of irreducible complexity. Similar to staphylococci, the life and works of Alexander Fleming show the fingerprints of Providence. The so-called “serendipitous” achievements of Fleming have contributed to modern medicine, convincing Fleming and others that God was at work in his life. Fleming recognized that …

A 5'-Upstream Short Open Reading Frame Encoded Peptide Regulates Angiotensin Type 1a Receptor Production And Signalling Via The Β-Arrestin Pathway, Gina L.C. Yosten, Jun Liu, Hong Ji, Kathryn Sandberg, Robert Speth, Willis K. Samson

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

AUG sequences and short open reading frames are commonly present in the 5'-leader sequence of G protein-coupled receptor mRNAs. The presence of these upstream AUG sequences has been demonstrated to inhibit downstream receptor translation efficiency and, most recently, receptor signal transduction. A seven amino acid peptide encoded by a short open reading frame in exon 2 of the angiotensin type 1a receptor has been shown to inhibit non-G protein-coupled signaling of angiotensin II, without altering the classical G protein-coupled pathway activated by the ligand. This finding may lead to the development of a new class of angiotensin receptor antagonists with …

Lake Erie Coastal Marsh Aquatic Invertebrate Community Structure Across Habitats Dominated By Two Different Emergent Macrophytes, Bianca Jean Sander

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this observational study was to determine if there was a difference in aquatic invertebrate communities between areas dominated by Phragmites australis and areas dominated by Typha spp. in a freshwater coastal marsh. The hypothesis was that aquatic invertebrate diversity and abundance would be greater in Typha-dominated locations as opposed to Phragmites-dominated locations. Sampling took place at Lake Erie Metropark in southeast Michigan during the summer of 2013. Invertebrates were collected using Hester-Dendy samplers and identified in the laboratory. Invertebrates were assessed using the Shannon-Wiener Index, taxon richness, and abundance values which were all analyzed …

Controlled Microfluidics To Examine Growth-Factor Induced Migration Of Neural Progenitors In The Drosophila Visual System, Cade Beck, Tanya Singh, Angela Farooqi, Tadmiri Venkatesh, Maribel Vazquez

Publications and Research

BACKGROUND:

The developing visual system in Drosophila melanogaster provides an excellent model with which to examine the effects of changing microenvironments on neural cell migration via microfluidics, because the combined experimental system enables direct genetic manipulation, in vivo observation, and in vitro imaging of cells, post-embryo. Exogenous signaling from ligands such as fibroblast growth factor (FGF) is well-known to control glia differentiation, cell migration, and axonal wrapping central to vision.

NEW METHOD:

The current study employs a microfluidic device to examine how controlled concentration gradient fields of FGF are able to regulate the migration of vision-critical glia cells with and …

Parent-Of-Origin Effects On Genome-Wide Dna Methylation In The Cape Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera Capensis) May Be Confounded By Allele-Specific Methylation, Emily J. Remnant, Alyson Ashe, Paul E. Young, Gabriele Buchmann, Madeleine Beekman, Michael H. Allsopp, Catherine M. Suter, Robert A. Drewell, Benjamin P. Oldroyd

Biology

Background: Intersexual genomic conflict sometimes leads to unequal expression of paternal and maternal alleles in offspring, resulting in parent-of-origin effects. In honey bees reciprocal crosses can show strong parent-of-origin effects, supporting theoretical predictions that genomic imprinting occurs in this species. Mechanisms behind imprinting in honey bees are unclear but differential DNA methylation in eggs and sperm suggests that DNA methylation could be involved. Nonetheless, because DNA methylation is multifunctional, it is difficult to separate imprinting from other roles of methylation. Here we use a novel approach to investigate parent-of-origin DNA methylation in honey bees. In the subspecies Apis mellifera capensis, …

Integrative Analyses Reveal Signaling Pathways Underlying Familial Breast Cancer Susceptibility, Stephen R. Piccolo, Laura M. Hoffman, Thomas Conner, Gajendra Shrestha, Adam L. Cohen, Jeffrey R. Marks, Leigh A. Neumayer, Cori A. Agarwal, Mary C. Beckerle, Irene L. Andrulis, Avrum E. Spira, Philip J. Moos, Saundra S. Buys, William Evan Johnson, Andrea H. Bild

Faculty Publications

The signaling events that drive familial breast cancer (FBC) risk remain poorly understood. While the majority of genomic studies have focused on genetic risk variants, known risk variants account for at most 30% of FBC cases. Considering that multiple genes may influence FBC risk, we hypothesized that a pathway‐based strategy examining different data types from multiple tissues could elucidate the biological basis for FBC. In this study, we performed integrated analyses of gene expression and exome‐sequencing data from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and showed that cell adhesion pathways are significantly and consistently dysregulated in women who develop FBC. The dysregulation …

Kin Discrimination In Dictyostelium Social Amoebae, Joan E. Strassmann

Biology Faculty Research

Presentation delivered at the symposium Evidence of Taxa, Clone, and Kin Discrimination in Protists: Ecological and Evolutionary Implications, VII European Congress of Protistology, University of Seville, 5–10 September 2015, Seville Spain.

Evolved cooperation is stable only when the benefactor is compensated, either directly or through its relatives. Social amoebae cooperate by forming a mobile multicellular body in which, about 20% of participants ultimately die to form a stalk. This benefits the remaining individuals that become hardy spores at the top of the stalk, together making up the fruiting body. In studied species with stalked migration, P. violaceum, D. purpureum, and …

A Continuous Correlated Beta Process Model For Genetic Ancestry In Admixed Populations, Zachariah Gompert

Biology Faculty Publications

Admixture and recombination create populations and genomes with genetic ancestry from multiple source populations. Analyses of genetic ancestry in admixed populations are relevant for trait and disease mapping, studies of speciation, and conservation efforts. Consequently, many methods have been developed to infer genome-average ancestry and to deconvolute ancestry into continuous local ancestry blocks or tracts within individuals. Current methods for local ancestry inference perform well when admixture occurred recently or hybridization is ongoing, or when admixture occurred in the distant past such that local ancestry blocks have fixed in the admixed population. However, methods to infer local ancestry frequencies in …

Î?- Lactam-Induced Changes In Cell Wall Composition And Autolytic Properties Of Daptomycin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, Michael Krzyskowski

Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen that is well known for its ability to develop resistance to antimicrobial therapies. Recent studies have identified a combination of β-lactam antibiotic and daptomycin (DAP) to be highly effective at killing single and multi-drug-resistant S. aureus. Of particular interest is this drug combinationâ??s efficiency with which it kills strains classified as DAP-resistant methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (DAP-R MRSA). The goals of the present study were two-fold: to provide a physiological profile of a DAP-R S. aureus strain undergoing beta-lactam treatment by observing changes in autolytic rate, susceptibility to lytic enzymes, levels of peptidoglycan O-acetylation, …

Molecular Evolution And Functional Divergence Of Trace Amine–Associated Receptors, Seong-Il Eyun, Hideaki Moriyama, Federico G. Hoffmann, Etsuko N. Moriyama

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Trace amine-associated receptors (TAARs) are a member of the G-protein-coupled receptor superfamily and are known to be expressed in olfactory sensory neurons. A limited number of molecular evolutionary studies have been done for TAARs so far. To elucidate how lineage-specific evolution contributed to their functional divergence, we examined 30 metazoan genomes. In total, 493 TAAR gene candidates (including 84 pseudogenes) were identified from 26 vertebrate genomes. TAARs were not identified from non-vertebrate genomes. An ancestral-type TAAR-like gene appeared to have emerged in lamprey.We found four therian-specific TAAR subfamilies (one eutherian-specific and three metatherian- specific) in addition to previously known nine …

Tile History: A Brief Presentation, Virginia Raguin

Documentation

Slide presentation used to introduce the art and history of ceramic tiling to participants who worked on Lungs of the Planet, a tile mural created as a collaborative art project by students in the Natural World Cluster of the Monserrat First Year Program at the College of the Holy Cross. The project was led by Virginia Raguin, Distinguished Professor of Humanities at the College. Particpants included students, faculty, staff and community members.

The presentation includes photographic examples of ceramic tiling in architecture located in Jerusalem and Istanbul.

A Colletotrichum Graminicola Mutant Deficient In The Establishment Of Biotrophy Reveals Early Transcriptional Events In The Maize Anthracnose Disease Interaction, Maria F. Torres, Noushin Ghaffari, Ester A. S. Buiate, Neil Moore, Scott Schwartz, Charles D. Johnson, Lisa J. Vaillancourt

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

Background: Colletotrichum graminicola is a hemibiotrophic fungal pathogen that causes maize anthracnose disease. It progresses through three recognizable phases of pathogenic development in planta: melanized appressoria on the host surface prior to penetration; biotrophy, characterized by intracellular colonization of living host cells; and necrotrophy, characterized by host cell death and symptom development. A “Mixed Effects” Generalized Linear Model (GLM) was developed and applied to an existing Illumina transcriptome dataset, substantially increasing the statistical power of the analysis of C. graminicola gene expression during infection and colonization. Additionally, the in planta transcriptome of the wild-type was compared with that of …

The Fast-Evolving Phy-2 Gene Modulates Sexual Development In Response To Light In The Model Fungus Neurospora Crassa, Zheng Wang, Ning Li, Jigang Li, Jay C. Dunlap, Frances Trail, Jeffrey P. Townsend

Dartmouth Scholarship

Rapid responses to changes in incident light are critical to the guidance of behavior and development in most species. Phytochrome light receptors in particular play key roles in bacterial physiology and plant development, but their functions and regulation are less well understood in fungi. Nevertheless, genome-wide expression measurements provide key information that can guide experiments that reveal how genes respond to environmental signals and clarify their role in development. We performed functional genomic and phenotypic analyses of the two phytochromes in Neurospora crassa, a fungal model adapted to a postfire environment that experiences dramatically variable light conditions. Expression of phy-1 …

Drought Responsive Gene Expression Regulatory Divergence Between Upland And Lowland Ecotypes Of A Perennial C4 Grass, John T. Lovell, Scott Schwartz, David B. Lowry, Eugene V. Shakirov, Jason E. Bonnette, Xiaoyu Weng, Mei Wang, Jenifer Johnson, Avinash Sreedasyam, Christopher Plott, Jerry Jenkins, Jeremy Schmutz, Thomas E. Juenger

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Climatic adaptation is an example of a genotype-by-environment interaction (G×E) of fitness. Selection upon gene expression regulatory variation can contribute to adaptive phenotypic diversity; however, surprisingly few studies have examined how genome-wide patterns of gene expression G×E are manifested in response to environmental stress and other selective agents that cause climatic adaptation. Here, we characterize drought-responsive expression divergence between upland (drought-adapted) and lowland (mesic) ecotypes of the perennial C₄ grass, Panicum hallii, in natural field conditions. Overall, we find that cis-regulatory elements contributed to gene expression divergence across 47% of genes, 7.2% of which exhibit drought-responsive G×E. …

A Parallel G Quadruplex-Binding Protein Regulates The Boundaries Of Dna Elimination Events Of Tetrahymena Thermophila, Christine M. Carle, Hani S. Zaher, Douglas L. Chalker

Biology Faculty Research

Guanine (G)-rich DNA readily forms four-stranded quadruplexes in vitro, but evidence for their participation in genome regulation is limited. We have identified a quadruplex-binding protein, Lia3, that controls the boundaries of germline-limited, internal eliminated sequences (IESs) of Tetrahymena thermophila. Differentiation of this ciliate’s somatic genome requires excision of thousands of IESs, targeted for removal by small-RNA-directed heterochromatin formation. In cells lacking LIA3 (ΔLIA3), the excision of IESs bounded by specific G-rich polypurine tracts was impaired and imprecise, whereas the removal of IESs without such controlling sequences was unaffected. We found that oligonucleotides containing these polypurine tracts formed …

There’S A Dragon In My Classroom, Sarah O'Leary-Driscoll

Nature of Science

What makes science, science?

How do we help students make sense of the science they are learning and how it fits in with preconceived notions and misconceptions, social perspectives, and potential controversy?

Characterization And Recombinant Expression Of Terebrid Venom Peptide From Terebra Guttata, John Moon, Juliette Gorson, Mary Elizabeth Wright, Laurel Yee, Samer Khawaja, Hye Young Shin, Yasmine Karma, Rajeeva Lochan Musunri, Michelle Yun, Mandë Holford

Publications and Research

Venom peptides found in terebrid snails expand the toolbox of active compounds that can be applied to investigate cellular physiology and can be further developed as future therapeutics. However, unlike other predatory organisms, such as snakes, terebrids produce very small quantities of venom, making it difficult to obtain sufficient amounts for biochemical characterization. Here, we describe the first recombinant expression and characterization of terebrid peptide, teretoxin Tgu6.1, from Terebra guttata. Tgu6.1 is a novel forty-four amino acid teretoxin peptide with a VI/VII cysteine framework (C–C–CC–C–C) similar to O, M and I conotoxin superfamilies. A ligation-independent cloning strategy with an ompT …

Raised Intracellular Calcium Contributes To Ischemia-Induced Depression Of Evoked Synaptic Transmission, Shirin Jalini, Hui Ye, Alexander A. Tonkikh, Milton P. Charlton, Peter L. Carlen

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) leads to depression of evoked synaptic transmission, for which the mechanisms remain unclear. We hypothesized that increased presynaptic [Ca²⁺]_i during transient OGD contributes to the depression of evoked field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSPs). Additionally, we hypothesized that increased buffering of intracellular calcium would shorten electrophysiological recovery after transient ischemia. Mouse hippocampal slices were exposed to 2 to 8 min of OGD. fEPSPs evoked by Schaffer collateral stimulation were recorded in the stratum radiatum, and whole cell current or voltage clamp recordings were performed in CA1 neurons. Transient ischemia led to increased presynaptic [Ca^{2+ …}

Xenoestrogens From Household Plastics Bind Estrogen Receptors And Affect Cell Proliferation, Susan G. Hurley, Brett R. Lackey, Patricia L. Tate, Sandra L. Gray

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Xenoestrogens are “foreign” chemicals or compounds that interact with estrogen receptors as either agonists or antagonists to interfere with endocrine system function. Xenoestrogens include phytoestrogens, pesticides, industrial by- products and synthetic estrogens. In this study, consumer plasticware, including baby bottles and food storage containers, were found to release xenoestrogenic compounds that bound to ERα and ERβ and affected cell proliferation.

Novel Strategies To Promote Smoking Cessation, Matthew J. Carpenter

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

The Engaged Microbiologist: Bringing The Microbiological Sciences To The K-12 Community, David J. Westenberg

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Exposing K-12 students to cutting edge science that impacts their daily lives can bring classroom lessons to life. Citizen-science projects are an excellent way to bring high-level science to the classroom and help satisfy one of the cornerstone concepts of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), "engaging in practices that scientists and engineers actually use." This can be a daunting task for teachers who may lack the background or resources to integrate these projects into the classroom. This is where scientific societies such as the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) can play a critical role. ASM encourages its members to …

Identification Of A Short Cell-Penetrating Peptide From Bovine Lactoferricin For Intracellular Delivery Of Dna In Human A549 Cells, Betty Revon Liu, Yue-Wern Huang, Robert Aronstam, Han-Jung Lee

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have been shown to deliver cargos, including protein, DNA, RNA, and nanomaterials, in fully active forms into live cells. Most of the CPP sequences in use today are based on non-native proteins that may be immunogenic. Here we demonstrate that the L5a CPP (RRWQW) from bovine lactoferricin (LFcin), stably and noncovalently complexed with plasmid DNA and prepared at an optimal nitrogen/phosphate ratio of 12, is able to efficiently enter into human lung cancer A549 cells. The L5a CPP delivered a plasmid containing the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) coding sequence that was subsequently expressed in …

Temporal Trends In Genetic Data And Effective Population Size Support Efficacy Of Management Practices In Critically Endangered Dusky Gopher Frogs ( Lithobates Sevosus ), Kristin M. Hinkson, Stephen C. Richter

Biological Sciences Faculty and Staff Research

Monitoring temporal changes in population genetic diversity and effective population size can provide vital information on future viability. The dusky gopher frog, Lithobates sevosus, is a critically endangered species found only in coastal Mississippi, with low genetic variability as a consequence of isolation and population size reduction. Conservation management practices have been implemented, but their efficacy has not been addressed. We genotyped individuals collected 1997–2014 to determine temporal trends in population genetic variation, structure, and effective size. Observed and expected heterozygosity and allelic richness revealed temporally stable, but low, levels of genetic variation. Positive levels of inbreeding were found in …